Creditors'/County Court's Verification of Income and Expenditure (I&E)

Gustygoat

Good afternoon,

With collection activity on some recently defaulted unsecured loans and credit cards ramping up, including by certain in-house solicitors, I'd be grateful for any advice on the best way to deal with creditors who are likely to be peeved by the small amounts presently available for large debts.

I need to avoid CCJs for work purposes, so I assume best approach is to fill in their I&E forms, although I'm not comfortable doing so, and taking into account fluctuating outgoings due to maritial separation, my living costs are varying greatly each month due to unstable living arrangements and legal fees.

As such, what is the verification process, if any, for I&E data during a County Claim, please? Are bank statements, payslips, receipts for food, contents/car insurance required? Would it weaken one's case if such information was not provided?

Also would one get drawn over the coals by a judge if information on income and/or outgoings was incorrect? I appreciate financial commitments like mortgages are shown on credit reports that creditors can view, but am keen to find out what other information MUST be shared?

Many thanks,

GG

sourcrates

Try not to overthink the situation, if you are in the position of having limited disposable income, then when doing an income/expenditure form for a creditor, it does not have to include your exact spend figures.

You are simply required to self certify your income/expenditure, you don`t have to provide any proof, you can tell debt collectors/solicitors any old rubbish, they have zero rights in this area, I would be slightly more cautious with any county court claim, just in case you ever had to back them up, but as a rule give them general figures that back up your case, it is not checked, so you can be imaginative.

Most county court claims are processed in bulk at the Northampton bulk processing centre, they don`t have the time to get into much detail, in most cases the judge simply looks at what`s in the claim particulars, and what you have written in your defence, judgement is solely granted on that basis, unless something requires clarification, then you or the claimant, may be asked to appear to explain the discrepancy.

ManyWays

I need to avoid CCJs for work purposes

If this is essential, not just you would prefer this, then you need to look at applying for a Tomlin Order. This is a court order that sets fixed repayments and avoids a CCJ being entered.

Sounds great? These are rarely used, are looked at closely and the lender may reject it. They have the major disadvantage that they are not flexible. It's easy to vary the monthly payments on a CCJ, not in a Tomlin order. If inflation takes off in the next year, you could be left in a mess.

See https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/debt-collection/tomlin-order.aspx which has some background,

but if you want to know more, I suggest asking on the Legal Beagles forum:
https://legalbeagles.info/forums/forum/legal-forums/court-claims-and-issues